UNIT – I (PART – III)

AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

❖ For Civil & Military Aircraft :, ARINC-429, Mil-Std-1553 and AFDX, CAN bus
❖ Analog, Digital, Federated Architectures & Integrated Modular Architecture
UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

AVIONICS DATA BUS

 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

• BUSES
• A bus is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a
computer, or between computers.
• This expression covers all related hardware components and software, including
communication protocols.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Functions of Buses in Computers

• Data sharing - Transfer data between the computer peripherals connected to it.
• The buses transfer or send data in either serial or parallel method of data transfer.
This allows for the exchange of 1, 2, 4 or even 8 bytes of data at a time. (A byte is a
group of 8 bits).
• Buses are classified depending on how many bits they can move at the same time,
which means that we have 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or even 64-bit buses.

• Addressing - This allows data to be sent to or from specific memory locations.

• Power - A bus supplies power to various peripherals connected to it.

• Timing - The bus provides a system clock signal to synchronize the peripherals
attached to it with the rest of the system.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• SERIAL COMMUNICATION BUS
• In telecommunication and data transmission, serial communication is the
process of sending data one bit at a time, sequentially, over
a communication channel bus. In parallel communication, where
several bits are sent as a whole, on a link with several parallel
channels.
• Serial communication sends only one bit at a time. so, these require fewer
I/O (input-output) lines. Hence, occupying less space and more resistant to
cross-talk. The main advantage of serial communication is, the cost of
the entire system becomes cheap and transmits the information over a
long distance.
• Parallel communication moves 8,16, or 32 bits of data at a time. So, each bit
of data requires a separate physical I/O line. The advantage of parallel
communication is it is fast but its drawback is it use more number of
I/O (input-output) lines. Printers and Xerox machines use parallel
communication for faster data transfer. Parallel transfer is used in PC
(personal computer) for interconnecting CPU (central processing unit), RAM
(random access memory), modems, audio, video and network hardware.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Serial communication can take many forms depending on
the type of transmission mode and data transfer.
• The transmission modes are classified as :
❖ Simplex,
❖ Half Duplex, and
❖ Full Duplex.
• Simplex Mode of communication is
a communication channel that sends information in
one direction only. (radio broadcasting, television
broadcasting).
• Half Duplex Mode of communication data can be
transmitted in both directions on a signal carrier
except not at the same time, and
• Full Duplex Mode of communication - To transmit data
in both directions on a signal carrier at the same time.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• BUSES
• Buses can be parallel buses, which carry data words in parallel on multiple wires, or serial
buses, which carry data in bit-serial form.

• As data rates increase, the problems of timing skew, power consumption, electromagnetic
interference and crosstalk across parallel buses become more and more difficult to
circumvent.

➢Timing skew (sometimes called Clock skew ) is a phenomenon in synchronous digital

circuit systems in which the same sourced clock signal arrives at different components at
different times i.e. the instantaneous difference between the readings of any two clocks
is called their Timing skew.
➢ Crosstalk - Unwanted transfer of signals between communication channels

• A serial bus can be operated at higher overall data rates than a parallel bus, despite
having fewer electrical connections, because a serial bus inherently has no timing skew or
crosstalk.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Need and Evolution of Avionic Data Buses
• In the 1950s and 1960s, avionics were simple stand-alone systems.

➢The navigation, communications, flight controls, and displays consisted of analog systems
composed of multiple boxes (subsystems), connected to form a single system.

➢Various boxes within a system were connected with point-to-point wiring. The signals mainly
consisted of analog voltages, synchro-resolver signals, and switch contacts.

➢ The location of these boxes within the aircraft was a function of operator need, available
space, and the aircraft weight and balance constraints.

➢As more and more systems were added, the cockpits became more crowded, the wiring
became more complex, and the overall weight of the aircraft increased.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Need and Evolution of Avionic Data Buses

• By the late 1960s and early 1970s, it became necessary

➢to share information between the various systems to reduce the number of black boxes
required by each system. (see figure).

➢However, the technology was still analog, and while sharing sensors did reduce the
overall number of black boxes, but wiring was still very cumbersome.

➢Moreover, functions or systems that were added later became an integration nightmare.

• By the late 1970s -The Advent of Digital Technology

• With the advent of digital technology, digital computers had made their way into avionics
systems and subsystems. They offered increased computational capability and easy growth,
compared to their analog predecessors.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Need and Evolution of Avionic Data Buses

• By the late 1970s -The Advent of Digital Technology

• With the advent of the microprocessor and as technology progressed, the avionics
systems became more digital.
• An additional side benefit was that digital data could be transferred bi-directionally, wherein
analog data was transferred unidirectional.
• Serial transmission of the data was used to reduce the number of interconnections within
the aircraft
• The Advent of the Avionics Data Bus
• But this alone was still not enough. A data transmission medium, which would allow all
systems and subsystems to share a single and common set of wires, was needed (see
figure).
• By sharing the use of this interconnect, the various subsystems could send data between
themselves and to other systems and subsystems, one at a time, and in a defined
sequence, hence an avionics data bus.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
Need and Evolution of Avionic Data Buses
The Advent of Avionic Data Bus
The term Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) defined as “the transmission of information from several signal sources
through one communications system with different signal samples staggered in time to form a composite pulse
train.”
For our example in Figure, this means that data can be transferred between multiple avionics units over a single
transmission media, with the communications between the different avionics boxes taking place at different moments in
time, hence, time division.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

• COMMON TYPES OF SERIAL DIGITAL DATA TRANSMISSION

• Single source-single sink

• Single source-multiple sink

• Multiple source-multiple sink.

 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
SINGLE SOURCE-SINGLE SINK
➢Comprises a dedicated link from one piece of equipment to another
➢Developed in the 1970s for use on Tornado and Sea Harrier avionics systems
SINGLE SOURCE-MULTIPLE SINK
➢One transmitting source transmits data to a number of recipient pieces of equipment
(sinks)
➢ARINC 429 is an example of this data bus which is widely used by civil transport and
business jets.
MULTIPLE SOURCE-MULTIPLE SINK
➢Multiple transmitting sources transmits data to multiple receivers.
➢This is known as a half-duplex system and is widely employed by civil & military users e.g.
(MIL-STD-1553B) and by the B777 (ARINC 629).
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

• AVIONICS DATA BUSES • NON-AVIONICS DATA BUSES

• MAJOR DIGITAL DATA BUSES:
• CAN BUS
• ARINC 429 ARINC 629

• MIL - STD 1553B MIL- STD 1773

• ARINC 664 (AvionicsFull DupleX (AFDX)

Switched Ethernet)
UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

ARINC 429
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 - SPECIFICATIONS
• Standard adopted in the year 1977; Made its
appearance in the C-17 transport aircraft.
• ARINC 429 is a self-clocking, asynchronizing avionics
ARINC 429
data bus; Hence messages can start at any moment of TRANSMITTER
the time line.
• Point to Point Protocol ARINC 429 ARINC 429 ARINC 429
RECEIVER
RECEIVER RECEIVER
• It is a specification that defines a local area network for For Example : Chip HI
transfer of digital data between avionics system 8582 is ARINC 429
elements in civil aircraft. Transreceiver
• It is simplex data bus using ‘one transmitter’ but no
more than ‘twenty receivers’ for each bus
implementation
• There are no physical addressing. But the data are sent
with proper ‘identifier’ or ‘label’.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
• Topology
• Bit rates
• Encoding
• Word Format
• Data Format

• TOPOLOGY
• Single source multiple sink & Data can be transmitted in simplex
mode.
• Bi-directional transmission would require a parallel wire or a
bus. The devices are configured in a Star (Fig.1) or Bus-Drop
(Fig.2) topology.
• This simple architecture provides highly reliable data transfer
• Limitation of maximum up to 20 receivers is due to input
impedance matching.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
• ENCODING
• There are two types of signals viz. digital and analog. Digital signals are
represented in the form of binary zeros and ones. Line coding
techniques such as unipolar, polar and bipolar are used to transmit
digital data using digital signals. These line coding techniques are
used in digital communication.

• The RZ and NRZ pulse shapes are used in these techniques to

minimize ISI (Inter Symbol Interference) by avoiding distortion and
overlapping of consecutive pulses.

• What is Line Encoding

• Line coding is a technique which represents digital data into digital
signals. Line encoder converts digital data to digital signal format.
Line encoder does line coding at the sender side as shown in figure-1.
The same digital signal is decoded at the receiver side by line decoder.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
• ENCODING (Contd) – Line Encoding

• Line encoding can be done in many

formats depending upon application, for
example, RTZ, NRTZ, Manchester
BiPhase etc. In RZ, transition happens
exactly at the center of the bit period.
Hence it is known as 'Return to Zero’.
➢ Unipolar Signaling
➢ Polar Signaling
➢ Bipolar Signaling

• In case of ARINC-429, Line encoding of

Return to Zero (RTZ) is utilized.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
• ENCODING (Contd)
• There are three logic states in the ARINC 429 system:
• logic-0, logic-1 and null.
• Signal format – Return To Zero (RTZ)

➢ Return-to-zero (RZ or RTZ)

➢ A line code in which the signal drops (returns) to zero between each pulse. And if there are
no messages, the transmission line is in null state and there is no voltage, which is a power
saving advantage.

➢ This takes place even if a number of consecutive 0s or 1s occur in the signal.

➢ The signal is self-clocking. This means that a separate clock does not need to be sent
alongside the signal, but it suffers from using twice the bandwidth to achieve the same
data-rate as compared to non-return-to-zero format.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
• ENCODING (Contd)
• The signal has three states 'HI', 'NULL' and 'LOW’
represented by the differential voltage between the two
wires of the cable.

• A logical ‘1’ is signaled by transmission of a +10 ±1V

pulse followed by a null period of 0±0.5V.

• A logical ‘0’ is signaled by transmission of a –10 ±1V

pulse also followed by null period of 0±0.5V.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
• Advantages of RZ encoding
• It is simple line coding technique.
• In polar RZ and bipolar RZ, no low frequency components are present. Bipolar NRZ/RZ
signaling waveform occupies lower bandwidth than unipolar NRZ and polar NRZ waveforms.
• Signal drooping does not happen in Bipolar coding. Hence this line coding is suitable for
data transmission over AC coupled lines.
• Single error detection is possible using this line coding technique.

• Disadvantages of RZ line coding

• Signal droop occurs when signal is non-zero at 0 Hertz.
• Unipolar/Polar RZ occupy twice bandwidth than Unipolar/polar NRZ respectively.
• No error correction.
• No clock is available.
• Loss of synchronization occurs due to long string of ones and zeros in the binary data.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)

WORD FORMAT
Organizes data in 32 bit words
Typical word consisting of five parts:
➢Label (8 bits)
➢Source/Destination Identifier (SDI) (02 bits)
➢Data field (19 bits)
➢Sign/Status Matrix (SSM) (2 bits)
➢Parity bit.(01 bit)
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
WORD FORMAT
• Label : Encoded in octal. Identifies type of data e.g Altitude , Airspeed etc. The 8-bit label
is used to interpret the other fields of a message – each type of equipment will have a set of
standard parameters identified by the label number, regardless of the manufacturer, e.g.
Label 372 for any Heading Reference system will provide wind direction and Label 203 for
any air data computer will give barometric altitude.

• Source/Destination Identifier (SDI) : Used by a transmitter connected to multiple receivers

to identify which one should process the message. If not needed, the bits may be used for
data i.e. Transmitters/Receivers are assigned ID code.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
ARINC 429 – SPECIFICATION (Contd)
WORD FORMAT (Contd)
• Data: The information in 19 bits that is being communicated.
• Sign/Status Matrix (SSM): Indicate sign information such as North, South, + or –. Indicate
the source equipment status
▪ Normal Operation (NO) - Indicates the data in this word is considered to be correct data.
▪ Functional Test (FT) - Indicates that the data is being provided by a test source.
▪ Failure Warning (FW) - Indicates a failure which causes the data to be suspect or missing.
▪ No Computed Data (NCD) - Indicates that the data is missing or inaccurate for some reason
other than a failure. For example, autopilot commands will show as NCD when the autopilot is
not turned on.
• Parity : Imposes odd parity on the word, If error.
 UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES
Video on ARINC 429
UNIT – I (PART – III): AVIONICS DATA BUSES & ARCHITECTURES

Thank you